The last day of Confetti for me was Tuesday 1st July 2014 and then our showcase on the 3rd. Looking back I feel as though the last two years of my life has gone within 'a blink of the eye' - so to speak. Compared to the other schools I've been through, Confetti has been one of the best life changing experiences for me.
I've made many great new friends who all share similar interests with me along the way, I finally got to go to MCM London conventions in cosplay and all in all I've felt myself become more confident with the world around me. Sadly I've decided not to stay at Confetti and have planned to take a BA (Hons) Animation course at Norwich University of Arts, however even though I'm travelling down south I won't forget the amazing times I had with everyone at Confetti and I hope all of your get your dream jobs :)
Whether I make another blog similar to this at university- who knows? Thank you to everyone who has actually been reading every post made, I honestly hope you've learnt something from my ramblings ^^; For now though, if you wish to keep updated with what I'm doing then please head over to my Deviant Art or Youtube account.
Until then peeps, best wishes and good luck! :)
~KawaiixFukuro
Deviant Art- http://kawaiixfukuro.deviantart.com/
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Jn004Hs8y0uXcsvfqheDQ/featured
Monday 14 July 2014
Student Showcase
So for our last official day at Confetti we had to be part of a Student Showcase, where we could present our work as individuals and groups. So at one end of the room, our group decided to show the game we made. Below are the cutscenes I created for the game.
Then on the other side of the room I had my own computer continuously showing my new show reel for people to see, also a huge thanks for David for showing me how to loop the video!
Then on the other side of the room I had my own computer continuously showing my new show reel for people to see, also a huge thanks for David for showing me how to loop the video!
Portfolio Showcase Assignment: Creating A Webpage 2
Task 2
For this task we are now ready to begin making our personal
websites. Previously before this assignment I’ve been making a website on
Weebly in order to look more professional with my work, get more commissions
and the fact various people on DeviantArt has requested it. Since I can’t use
it for this assignment my decision has been I would like to make one on Serif
WebPlus6 like the one I already have on Weebly. Obviously I’m going to change
the designs like house styles and such, otherwise the content will remain the
same but purely for college portfolios rather than other hobbies I have.
Another thing I would love to incorporate is my DA page, Deviant Art is pretty
much my digital showcase and has been for years, and collaborating with Youtube
for any animations I may have done. If I get the time on Deviant Art I would
like to create a personal journal, box designs which will include the following
information of:
·
Art Trades, Collabs and Requests
·
Commissions and Prices
·
Cosplay Watch
·
Friends, Inspirations and RL Buddies
·
F.A.Q and Artist Statement
·
Terms and Conditions
Planning Considerations and Site Management
As mentioned above the website I have to make I want to
basically resemble the same or at least similar order as the one I already
have. Now the assignment states the website will be for a digital portfolio of
our work. What I what to appear in mine at the least is a short biography about
me so that people know what I’m about, have achieved and what I can do. Some
pre-college art and animation work, college work and personal work which will
be linked to other websites such as DeviantArt, Youtube and Blogger.
Now the reason why I’m adding pre-college work is because I
want to show my audience how far I’ve progressed with my art since college,
during college for different assignments and FMP work to personal pieces that
are for my own projects or for other people. This means that I’m constantly
trying to improve what I can do in order to achieve what I want to do which
will obviously be linked within the bio.
Below are screenshots of the website I’ve nearly finished on
Weebly which will show how my website is going to be structured.
Art Gallery
Now this is where I will be ending
my new website to as the Art Gallery will be having a main page which will lead
off onto sibling pages that aren’t visible within the navigation menu. Below is
an initial concept of how this will pan out.
Now I’m going to show you how each piece looks like:
So now that you can see how the layout of my website will
be, it’s main focus is on my art and how it’s progressed since secondary school
to now as well as the different types I’ve done.
Pre-College Work- This is mainly works I did for GCSE
Graphics and Secondary School which CAD seems like the beginning step to
Autodesk Collection.
GCSE Art- This leads off into three separate projects we had
to do in order to gain our marks.
~Project 1- Music
~Project 2- Animals and Backdrops
~Project
3- Animals
College Work- Every piece of art from sketches to models
will be placed here.
Studio Work- This is my own personal pieces and again splits
off into three different sections.
~ Section 1- Elemental Wolves. This is my
biggest project I hope to one day turn into a story and animated series.
~Section 2- Secrets of the Guardians. So
far my plans for this story are to be turned into a manga.
~Section 3- Saki of Miu. Finally my last
project that will hopefully make it as a story only
Photography- This is basically pieces I’ve either taken
myself or photo-manipulated to give of a mythical feel.
Specifications
Already I’ve mentioned a few that needs to be included in
this website and this has been:
Ø
Needs to be a digital portfolio
Ø
Must represent a certain area in our work- art
and animation
Ø
Must have links to other websites (Blogger,
Deviant Art ect)
Ø
Must have a certain house style throughout
Ø
Be unique
Ø
Represent us as individuals
With my plans and I suppose what I’ve already created on
Weebly, I’ve already met these points only I now need to incorporate them
within the website I’m making from scratch.
My plans from now are to focus solely on one page at a time until the
pieces of my art need uploading onto the website. So far I have begun work on
the home and bio page creating an icon of an owl that will be the mascot for my
studio and hopefully later little decorations similar to the cherry blossom
flowers I have on the Weebly site.
Design Schedule
Although this will be on my on my
Gantt Chart as well I’m hoping from now (20.05.14) until 25.05.14 that the
basic structure of the house style and pages will be in place. After that for
the next week I would like all my art uploaded and then that leaves me an extra
week to conjure any other pieces of art that needs to be added to the website.
Hopefully during the nest 2-3 weeks I will be continuously testing my website
to make sure it’s in full working order.
Testing Log
More Testing
So above we’ve been able to see each page as it is and if
there’s any problems laced within. So far nothing seems to be amiss apart from
one page missing two photos. The hyperlinks on the pictures above work well and
immediately direct people to the webpage I want them to visit, whilst the
buttons allow people to navigate well across the website if they’re searching for
a specific thing. Now during the preview we’ve seen the flash presentations
working correctly with all the pictures being showcased along with similar
music playing across each sub-page of artwork.
However if people wanted a simpler way to add social media
icons and multimedia pieces into their website, Serif has designed easy
alternatives we can use. Reasons as to why I didn’t use any of these is simply
because I like the idea of designing my own icons to represent that webpage I’m
on and make it fit with the similar house style as follow through the rest of
the site.
So far I’ve included image, music and text which means all
that’s left for me to do is show proof of search engine optimisation and add in
video. My plans are actually to create another sub-page under both college and
studio work named: Animations. Here I’ll be placing YouTube videos of my
animated work onto this page because I’ve done things for college and my own
personal practices of flowing movement. So here we go:
Search Engine Optimisation
This is where we can create ways for our website to appear
in search engine results; so far I’ve incorporated hyperlinks into my site
which is one way to optimise my website. Another is to go into the site
properties on Serif X6 and type in keywords as I’ve done so below:
All that’s left now is to publish my website on the web,
simply go to the top of the menu selection on Serif and click on the icon that
shows a computer screen partially hidden by the Earth. In its menu selection
click on ‘Publish to Web’ and then it’s done.
Testing By Others
Here I’ll be asking my fellow peers to test my website, see
if they can spot anything wrong and what may be improved, before I begin to
evaluate my website.
Evaluation
When we began creating these websites I didn’t really want
to spend too much time on this because of two reasons. One being my role within
my FMP group is to be not only the artist but the animator as well, creating
the opening cutscene has been strenuous but in the end I can see all the hours
I’ve spent on it has paid off. The second reason was I had already created a
website on Weebly but because I haven’t done any of the coding myself, it’s
meant I couldn’t use that site but my plan was to base the one I’ve now made on
Serif X6 on the one I’ve done on Weebly.
Has it worked?
Surely I couldn’t completely copy what had already been done
so I’ve followed a similar colour scheme of white, pinks and brown yet added in
a little a blue which is my favourite colour and mixes well with the colours
above. Sticking to those lines I’ve created extra pieces such as the Owl
Side-Banner, which is the owl sitting on a branch. The little icons that show
which external site you’ll be visiting, the header in a set word art and
finally the KawaiixFukuro mascot owl- all created in Photoshop, so why owls?
KawaiixFukuro stands for Cute x Owl in Japanese hence why these animals are
important and they’re also my second favourite in the Birds of Prey list (Sparrowhawks
being the first and Eagles being third)
With the pages I decided to keep to the art side of my
original website as cosplaying, model horses don’t fall under a digital
portfolio for college in a sense. Yet
all the art pages I had included on the original is now the same on this one
and works quite well giving people a show of what my art level was before I
started college to how it is now and the different forms I work with.
Testing and Fixing
To be honest testing seemed quite easy because my plan was
I’ll make my website first and then begin testing for bugs. After pointing out
the initial faults like the photographs not being there, I was quite happy that
when I introduced my website to my peers, who had agreed to test it, that they
had managed to find faults that could easily been fixed and already have as
shown above.
All in all I feel I’ve accomplished what the criteria has
asked of me, I’ve been able to produce a digital portfolio that’s referenced to
all my work for both college and myself. On the webpage I have followed a house
style throughout, added in images, music, text and video as well as showing
evidence for search engine optimisation. Going by the comments others have made
all are in agreement my website has been well created, easy to navigate and
demonstrates the purpose of why I’ve created it.
If I were to do this piece again, my next steps would
probably include more hobbies of what I do such as the cosplaying,
video-editing, model horse making, or improve what I already have by changing
the design completely instead of making something similar to what I have done
on Weebly.
Portfolio Showcase Assignment: Working To A Brief 2
With our last assignment, Web Authorising, having been
completed this next assignment Portfolio Showcase links well with its
predecessor. Why? Basically I’ll be expanding on both subjects (working to a
brief and web authoring); yet adding my personal twists within. For example in
the first task I’ll be explaining about our recent FMP brief and how it’s
developed since last August. Task 2 involves me making my own personal website
to design an online portfolio for potential employers.
Task 1- Working to a Brief 2
At the start of our second year at Confetti we were given a
brief to make a computer game, either as a group or individually where it was
to be completed at the end of the course. The design, structure and genre of
the game was left up to us as long as we don’t use commit copyright and
plagiarism, plus keeping the game’s rating under 16 at least for the prospect
of having the demo displayed at GameCity nights in Nottingham. With that in
mind, the group I’m in now (Drastic Studios) decided to get organized and we
basically began putting our response to the brief together as a group effort.
At the start of our course we all made separate GDDs for
separate game ideas, when we came to making a game together we had the option
of taking somebody’s current GDD so that pretty much all the initial designing,
planning and structures were laid out. Or we could create a whole new game
between us using characters from our previous games into this one. With the
idea of working someone’s game without anyone else’s creative inputs didn’t
seem fair to the rest of the group, although it meant more work our team
decided to work on one game together using our personal characters to take on
the main roles. After having a few discussions during some spare time in our lessons
I jotted down notes of initial concepts for story, arranging who’s character
should take what role such as mentor, protagonist, villain ect. The major
problem was though a few team members what certain roles which I then came up
with the idea of doing things based on chance- probably not the most
professional way of doing things, yet it meant less fallouts within the new
team and character’s roles would be decided on a game of ‘Rock,Paper, Scissors’
Content Outline
‘The Depths Between’ is our modernised game where our
renegade hero Tai ( a deceased
supernatural) has to combat his way through his own personal “limbo” hunting down his nemesis Greed, who
slaughtered him on Earth and encounter “Death” so not only can his soul can rest peacefully, but the
afterlife realm once again be restored to its retrospective form .
Following the art styles such as: Final Fantasy, Disgea and
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, we aim for a possible semi-realistic feel,
adding in darker themes which reflect on our chosen target audience sort to be
young teenagers to young adults. The game’s core play will be on the verge of over-world
exploration in various central hubs and warped environments, including battles
that will fight out in an action RPG style, once again resembling the franchise
mentioned above. For the fights, the action will pan out with a battle palette
that can be used to select various moves that will be used and have different
effects in battle. The main protagonist can also level up, upgrading his elemental
skills in numerous parameters.
So how did all this develop?
As a team consisting of six members and two free-lancers we
decided to take everyone’s old game concepts, creating one huge brainstorming
idea that not only includes all our concepts but a character from each story.
The reason why as a team we decided this was because it wasn’t morally right
for one person to see their whole game idea come to life, when others deserved
the same opportunity as well; it’s for this reason we’ve decided to start from
scratch and build a ‘team-game’.
Target Audience
Already we’ve given a slight hint towards our audience,
being between young teenagers to adults as well as looking at the unisex
reception. Our research for this is by looking closely at what games we love
playing and how they appeal to us as teenagers with unique selling points,
gameplay, styles and even the story compared to possibly how they affect
younger or older audiences. ‘The Depths Between’ takes on a more mature
approach that will contain an emotional storyline revolving around war, death,
betrayal as well friendship trust and team spirit. The darker themes would
comprise more exposure to horror/ fantasy styles of characters, the situations
they’re placed in and even the quests themselves as well as gameplay that will
ask you, to use such powers such as ‘Hell-Fire’, or complete certain
puzzles/tasks that will be created for a more experienced mind.
We find games like Xenoblade Chronicles, Legend of Zelda,
Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Disgea all follow these certain trends, known
under the genres of RPG and Action-Adventure which is where we believe our game
lays. For research on different genders and how we can appeal to males and
females is by showing our unique selling points. Stereotypically males prefer
more violence and conflict within the game which is what ‘The Depths Between’
is focused on, for the female audience however we’ve added a deep storyline,
creatures that you have to communicate with (one of them being a wolf,
resembling Twilight Princess) and different ways to combat using spells and
wit- rather than brawn and fighting techniques.
Using this hypothesis we created a survey asking 10
questions that relate to the game and thus the survey concludes that between
four girls: five boys, with ages from the lowest being 13, the eldest 46 and
the majority being between ages 17-22
the favourite game genres consisted of : Action-Adventure, RPG and
MMORPG. The next set of questions were based around what games others had
enjoyed and why, 65% had mentioned games we used to familiarise our game with
such as Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Legend of Zelda with comments mostly
praising about how the creators have collaborated both an amazing storyline
that instantly grips you the moment you begin gameplay, as well brilliant play
that allows you to feel as though you as yourself is battling within this
world. Yet our last question in this category was what do the public believe is
more important in a game. Is it gameplay, story or both? More people chose
story with 3 people asking for both. Now the last set of questions was about
what people would enjoy seeing in our game.
In unique game elements Superpowers won by 56%, Zombies,
Steampunk and Weaponry become joint second with all being 44%. The next
question was about whether Leash’s fauna being a wolf popular, giving our
audience a list of animals she could be now wolf and dragon came joint first
which worked well in my favour as Leash is a wolf/dragon hybrid. Finally we
asked the question of what weaponry would people be interested in and we
basically left it up to the public to decide. Some people thought the companion
should carry certain pieces like swords, potions, elements or really sharp
claws, again tying in with Leash having claws as she’s a wolf/dragon and carry
an Elemental weapon; others again went for swords, claws and knuckle dusters.
With all this in mind our team did create a relatively good game that
incorporates what a lot of the public would want to see in a game and possibly
enjoy our game because it’s similar to some of their favourite franchises.
Resources
As students we are going the Indie way, meaning we will have
to pay for licensing, programs such as the Autodesk collection (Maya, Mudbox,
3D Max), Photoshop, Renpy, UDK ect, all of which can costs thousands to pay
for. When piecing this altogether it will cost a heck of a lot of money,
luckily all members of the groups all attend the same college (Confetti
Studios) which supply the programs and licensing allowing us to download
student versions of the programme for free, giving us more time to work on
projects at home. Another good thing is some of the group members may already
have programs such as Photoshop or even hardware like Wacom Bamboo tablets, so
they don’t have to fully relay on using college meaning more work can also be
done at home. The only drawback to this is it means we can’t sell our idea,
that doesn’t mean though we can’t create a reputation for ourselves by giving
free demos away to the public, friends and family and requesting their feedback
for you guys to see!
Each member of the group may/ may not need personal
resources. For one of the members they have to supply their own art materials
to make concepts, paintings, storyboards, animation cycles ect.
Personal
Requirements
In our team we’ve each taken a main role within the group so
far consisting of: modellers, coders, concept artists, animators, scripters and
then given ourselves, ‘sub-roles’ where although we may not feel as comfortable
in this role we can help out other team members that are trailing behind or
just need a boost. The team that way can work more effectively as well as build
bonds amongst ourselves so we don’t get confused on how we are maintaining our
progress. We plan to create a demo that consists of one major quest revealing
some of the main characters and how the situation blows off between the
protagonist and the antagonist before we complete our 2nd year of
our diploma. Naturally the team has decided that if the production of the game
was to be completed before the time given, as individuals we will try and
complete our own NPC Quests that give our customers a little extra if they
really enjoyed the demo. Before then though, each week our leader takes into consideration what
each team member has done and explains to them what needs to be done next and
when by once again avoiding confusion, tracking down our production on a team
Gantt Chart and Sprint Sheet. Even though we are at college, we also have
online meetings via Facebook and a Dropbox account where we present all our
work for others to see. Finally we have meetings in town or at college to
discuss the team’s progress and invent team-building exercises to give our
minds a break from creating games.
My role within the team so far has been quite mixed between
modelling, planning, scripting and concept art. I feel I have to do these roles
in order for my team to progress further in the production, for example if I
don’t have the concept art done for my level design, characters and enemies
than how will I or anyone else be able to model them? For the group I’ve
contributed in making the team’s GDD before passing it on to the leader and
then re-writing the next version so more information is stored in there. Added
two characters with a backstory, bio, concept art, mock up-images of the
designs and mock storyboard pieces, an enemy concept with bio. Level design
sketches, animation walk-cycles, started models of my main character and finally
a fully scripted NPC quest that contains two more characters with final design
images, backstories and much more. Other than that I’ve helped the leader
organise certain things within the groups like meetings, progress, homework ect
Budget
For me it costs:
Travel~ £2.40 one way from my house to Nottingham (so for a
week of going to college (2 days) £9.60)
Food~ £4 (Covers days at college)
Art Supplies ~ £2 (Pencils)
£2 (Pens)
£0.99 (Rubber)
£ 3 (Paper
£30 (Printer Ink) Total: 37.99 /
7 = £5.42
Now when working in the industry or as an indie company it
is going to cost a heck of a lot more than what I’ve stated here. Shown below is a sample clip that shows what
the budget would come to if our group were to work solo.
Project Breakdown
When making a game there are stages in which we must
complete in order to advance. So far our team has finished the planning stage
which is where the creation of the game begins. Next is our production stage
which is where we make our game, the next stage is the testing which allows us
and others to play our game and find little bugs within the code. Finally we go
back and fix these errors, giving the game one more chance to play through and
fix any more errors before present again to an audience such as the public
other than testers.
Beforehand I’ve already discussed what our team does and how
as individuals we help the progression of the game. All of us look up to our
leader to point us in the right the direction and in return he allows us to
give him pointers on what should be done next if they are needed. The good
thing about the group is we always have a contingency plan so that if the
leader was to disappear it doesn’t mean all our information goes with him, but
stays with us so we can still work on our game.
In any group we need to have a back-up plan in case
something happens where a member of team becomes frequently absent, or can’t
get into college to hand in work or simply the files on our memory stick is
lost or broken. For the team members part if something were to happen to the
team leader, my job in a couple of groups is to take in everything the leader
has said/wants then distribute it to the rest of the team members if need be-
this way if something were to happen to me, everyone would know what to do and
how to carry on. The internet is also another way we can all stay in touch
other than relying on meeting up at college or other places in town, on sites
like Facebook, Google and IM messengers- plus in some groups there’s an online
meeting held every week for the group to discuss anything and everything that
concerns the game which is a brilliant idea.
Now if we were to lose work or couldn’t get in to college to
hand it in, the teams usually have a storage place on the internet for other to
have access to and retrieve like Google drives and Dropbox, which if anything
did happen to your memory stick you can get your work from there also. It may
also help if someone else has a copy of your work just in case of this
situation of well but the internet would be much better.
Our team planned out our production pretty well sometimes
using assignments to develop certain pieces further like the level designing,
on the other hand by looking at my sprint sheets you can easily see we had a
few problems within the production of team.
Reflecting
Our team has
gone through quite a few problems since we started. I think the major problems
were lack of communication and management. In the beginning I found that I was
keeping the team afloat with working on the GDD by myself, getting my
character’s thoroughly designed with both art and character’s backgrounds,
arranging team meetings and much more even though I wasn’t the team leader or
vice-captain. After having a discussion
with the team leader I agreed I would step down yet the work on the initial
stages weren’t being done so again I started completing things for the group,
giving it to the team leader to quickly adjust and then distributing it
throughout the team.
Coming close
to the end of the year this has been continuous until quite recently. Having
another discussion with the team leader after Easter holidays about others
needing to pull their weight, everyone being on target and getting things done
for the game at this crucial time. He agreed and since then it’s been like
working with a brand new team with some members, we are on track with what
needs to be done, whoever needs someone to do something for them it’s done and
all of us are communicating better on Facebook. The team leader I find has
changed most of all, even though I’m still giving everyone homework, he’s
making sure people get things done, writing down both sprint and gantt charts
regularly and paying attention to online discussions on Facebook.
Our next
major problem was the lack of communication within the group. At the start we
had 7 members of the group and two left because for most of the time, the team
leader wouldn’t tell us what needed to be done and when, what the structure of
the story was and sometimes left certain aspects to the last minute.
So what have
I been doing to help get the team further? Through most of the year I’ve been
having frequent meetings with the team leader about the game and what I’m doing
as that contributes to the game’s progress. There have been times where I’ve
created documents for all the team to use such as mood boards, mind-maps,
initial notes and a pitch speech for the team during the production management
assignment. I’ve based a couple of my assignments on the game as well making assets that can be used
during a later stage, a preview of my level that’s to be included in the demo
along with a level design document and various sketches. During the start and
quite recently I’ve been giving people homework to be getting on with each week
and check that things are ok which has been proved to help.
As I
mentioned before things have gotten easier since I had a discussion with the
team leader after the Easter holidays. When we came back everybody decided on a
certain role they wanted to pursue to create the game such as level designers,
artist and asset builders so I’ve taken on the role as animator and artist.
With this in mind I stated to the group I can’t continue what I’ve been doing
for most of the year because I’ll be busy animating cutscenes. The team leader
since then has been getting people to get on with their work and have helped me
try and sort problems with people getting scripts ready, finalising the GDD and
structure of the story. He’s also giving us mini-deadlines to work to and
checking that the game’s process is on track. There’s still times I have to
chase certain members of the group to do certain pieces that’s vital to the
game’s completion but I suspect in the end it’s all worth it.
Preparing for Web Assignment: How To Create A Webpage
Web pages to the amateur eye seem extremely easy to make
which is why many people get confused over people who declare they’re web
designers and such. On the other hand many do not realise that web pages and
the internet itself is made entirely of script, markup languages and coding.
However the main one, people use to lay the foundations for their webpage would
be HTML which stands for Hyper- Text- Markup- Language and then back it up with
a CSS document which now stands for :
Cascading Style Sheet.
HTML
As explained earlier Hyper-Text-Markup-Language proceeds as
the ‘backbone’ of a web page, being written in the form of tags enclosed in
angle brackets that are either open, to allow coding to appear on your web
page, or closed to tell the system that’s the end of the tag.
The purpose of this is so web browsers can easily read HTML
documents and compose them into web pages, now the browser doesn’t display
these tags yet uses them to interpret the web page. Some HTML elements have
empty content which are then closed in a start tag.
Tags
Tags can be various formats and mean specific commands, if
we look at a webpage we shall be able to distinguish the difference between
tags and what they do.
At the start of creating a webpage
we always begin with <Doctype html>, <html> <body> .
Basically this defines the page as a web page and allows us to start coding
what we want to appear on our page.
<H1> Stands for first
heading. H is a basic command for headings and will appear once the h has been
used in conjunction with the angle brackets. On the other hand unless you only
plan to use one header, then you have to give the number of what heading you
want to appear on your page. For example <h1> KawaiixFukuro
Studios</h1> stands for the first header in the script. Now what I’ve
written above is <centre> which again is another command, that makes my
header appear in the centre of the page.
<p> Means paragraph and
follows similar suit to the headings and how you use them, all that’s different
is you’re now writing a paragraph instead of a header. Just remember to end the
tag by using </p>
To add in a hyperlink you need to
start with <a href=”(add the websitelink you want!)”</a>, I’ve used
Deviantart as mine, go to the end result of this code and you’’ be able to see
what the hyperlink looks likes.
So now
that we have the basics covered, what else could be potentially used at our
arsenal?
To get an image appear on your
webpage can be quite tricky but here is the code:
<img src= “(add your image
destination here, so for example I used a DeviantArt link to one of my art or
use a folder within your laptop so it would go Pictures/image name.jpg)”
alt=”(Name of your image)” >
The src basically is telling the
web where you can find this image whether it be on another website or on your
computer. The alt is also another important factor as it allows the image to
appear on different web browsers rather than just one and then if you want your
image to be a certain height, then all you have to do is carry on with that
html code before the tag ends but write: width=”(enter your size here)” height=
“(enter your height here)”>
<f> stands for footer, so if you want something
specifically at the bottom of your web page you use this tag and command, just
remember to close it using </f>
The next two are pretty simple and allow you to use
emphasis on your words, for italics simply use <em> then as usual write what you want to be in
italics and close up with </em>. Bold typography is also simple, same
with italics write <strong> instead on ‘em’ and end on </strong>.
Below is how the code above now would look like on a web page.
Now a Metatag/Metadata is actually information about data.
The meta tag (<meta>) provides metadata about the HTML document but isn’t
displayed as the final product like most of the other coding, but is machine
passable. Elements of this kind are basically used to specify a page’s author,
description, keywords, recent modifications and other metadata meaning this can
be used by browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Opera ect by helping them display or
reload pages, search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing for keywords or
other web services. An example of writing this type of code can be found below:
CSS Document:
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet, they allow you to
define a certain style for HTML elements meaning external style sheets can
actually save a lot of time and effort, as they’re saved within CSS files.
The rule for CSS consists of a selector and a declaration
block as shown below:
Now the selector goes with the HTML element you wish to
style, meaning each declaration has to have a property name and a value
separated by colons, yet if the block contains one or more declarations they
must be separated using a semi-colon as shown above whilst the group of
declarations are surrounded by curly brackets. To make this easier for you to
read, instead of having the declaration all on one go you can spilt them up so
each declaration is on one line.
By looking at the image above we can see that to set up a
style, we start with the usual HTML style but then after adding or leaving
behind your header (<head>) , add in the CSS which starts with
<style>, choose what your selector is which here is p for paragraph and
then write in your style format. End of the CSS with </style> and then
continue writing in html as I have done below.
The
system already knows we want the CSS style to be based on paragraphs so when we
command paragraphs in html format and write what’s going to be in that
paragraph, then everything is going to be in the CSS style so my writing should
be in blue!
If we wanted a certain set of paragraphs to be in different
colours then instead of using p, we would have to write p1,p2, p3 ect and
create a different style for each one as shown below.
Now to name each of your styles
so it doesn’t look as confusing as mine, simply do this as shown below:
If we
use /*(enter comments here)*/, then the browsers ignore this information and
when we come back to change certain pieces in our CSS styles then we know where
each one potentially starts and ends. Again I’ve shown how you can do this
multiple times!
If however you wanted the same
paragraphs to have the same colour all you have to do is put all the selectors
you wish to be the same on the same line? The image below shows that we want
header 1 and 2 and all paragraphs to be in the same style, this saves time
instead of having to write out every selector and style if you want them to be
the same. Other people would class this as grouping selectors.
Inserting CSS styles can be dealt with in three ways, them
being: external, internal and inline. All three are written different so I will
show how you add each one in that order.
An external style sheet is usually applied to web pages
because you can change he entire look of the web site itself by altering one
file. Each page must link the style you’ve made using the <link> tag
which goes within each head section of your code. Any written CSS can be done
in any text editor, meaning the file should not contain any html tags and
should be saved as a .CSS extension
This is an example of where you shall place your
<link> tag in an html document, if you want to use an external style
sheet.
An internal style sheet should only be used when a single
documentation has a unique style and again written in the head of your html
document, using the <style> tag instead of <link> tag. Look at the
example below
Now that we know how to insert CSS inside of our HTML, we
can go back to designing our web page. To add a background, it’s pretty simple
can be done either using a web index colour which you can find a colour code
palette on the internet, then look for your wanted colour which will reveal the
code needed, otherwise using an image for the backdrop of your webpage.
By looking at the document above we can see we use the usual
CSS format to colour code our lettering but after your first curly bracket
write in:
Background=colour: (then add in your index colour code)
Which will then appear around whatever selector you wish to
have the colour around. Up above they’ve chosen three different blues that
define headers, divisions and paragraphs. To add in an image follows closely to
how you would add one in html tags. Instead you would write:
Body (your selector) {(your background images name or
background-image):(the url of your image/ file destination) “(the name of the
image).jpg or gif ect”;} Then you should get the result as shown below.
Going back to font and typography we could also change the
styles that we want our text to be in, making our web page more unique and
personal. To change the typography we have to declare it using the usual CSS
style:
p.serif{font-family:"Times New
Roman",Times,serif;}
p.sansserif{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;}
The P stands for paragraph again but Serif stands for
certain types of typography that have small lines at the ends of the characters
and sans serif means that these types don’t have the lines. Usually Sans Serif
and Serif are the main font’s people use on web pages, magazine articles, books
ect. Now to make sure these actually work, when you come to declare your chosen
selector in html (like h1 for example), you have to write:
<p class= “Serif/Sansserif”>
This will then put whatever you’re going to write in that
typography, but remember to write one or the other!
Another way to define your typography would be to create
bold, italics or oblique. Again go to where you declare your styles and write
in:
p.normal {font-style:normal;}
p.italic {font-style:italic;}
p.oblique {font-style:oblique;}
These here will allow your characters to be shown on the web
page in these fonts yet just like the typography, when you come to write in
your commands in html you have to write in:
<p class=”normal/italic/oblique”>
Remember
to choose either one and whatever is written in that paragraph will appear on
your web page. Below is an example of incorporating both typography and font
styles:
Finally all that’s left is to style hyperlinks so that when
someone clicks on one of these on your webpage, go onto a new page then return
back to the page they were on that hyperlink would then be a new colour so that
people knew which hyperlinks they’ve visited. Do to this we need to know the
different types of hyperlinks.
Ø
A:link- a normal link that no one’s visited
Ø
A:visited – a link someone has viewed
Ø
A:hover – a link when someone overs over it in
some text for example.
Ø
A:active – a link the moment it is clicked
Please note though when setting the style for multiple
links, you have to put them in a certain order. That being a: hover must come
after a:link and a:visited and a:active must come after a:hover. To use these
again go back to your style sheet and type in as well as adding a colour to
each link:
Then to add them into your html you have to write something
like:
<P><b><a href=”(add in your wanted url as I
have done below)” target “(Name your link, e.g Youtube)”> (Write what you
want to appear as your link) </a></b></p>
The p stands for your paragraph but the b and a stand for
your hyperlink style formatted in a true for false style. So if the person
hasn’t viewed the link it stays in that colour until they have, for more
information check out the example below:
Bibliography
Disclaimer: The websites below I do not own any
images used above belong to the owners.
Preparing for Web Assignment: Working To A Brief
With our time at Confetti coming to a close, it’s important
that whatever course or even job we’ve performed in, that we grasp hold of what
we’ve learnt, made and show an audience what we’re capable of doing. For this
assignment we must return back to briefs and how we can follow them for not
only our sake but for the clients as well whilst doing extensive research on
how we can create our own personal website from scratch.
Working to a Brief
To put it simply, a brief can be something from a simple set
of instructions to that of a full-blown fifty-page project. Both are
effectively the same subject where clients hand out directions to other people
in order for them to choose whether or not they should follow these obligations
which may be unattainable to follow because of certain circumstances or maybe
the employee refuses to do it. An example of this could well be a person is
given a brief for something like architecture which asks that person to maybe
design/ build this house in a very complex matter but only with a short amount
of money- hence why the client might ask to change circumstances for them to
achieve the client’s dream or just refuse it altogether. Throughout our time at Confetti, you could say
each assignment we’ve been given was another brief we had to follow and
complete in order to receive our grades. If we did not meet the requirements
for certain grades then we would have to negotiate with our tutors in order to
see what else needs to be done to reach that level, or basically walk away as
there may be too much work to take on at that moment.
Now as I’ve stated before briefs come in many different ways
and types which help us understand what we are working for/ towards and how to
keep our clients happy. The different types can be:
·
Formal-
These types are the most popular in any
industry, specifically the creative one. Formal briefs focus around an industry
sector involving mostly written work that describes what the client’s idea is,
what they want within the project, time, maximum budgets and deadlines. It can
also include the interactivity between the clients and the people taking on
this project such as having a meeting once a month, as well as they’re intended
deadlines. These kind of briefs are also written in Standard English with no
slang, no false pretences being basically straight to the point and cutting out
all parts of unnecessary information, on the other hand these documents may not
be legal and are usually offered to groups rather than a single person.
An example of this would be our team’s FMP
group. At the beginning we were all set a brief together writing what we’re
basing our game on, such as genres, target audience and who/want we want to
appear in the game like our characters. Milestones were set initially to give
the group an idea of how much work we should have done and when by which ties
in with the deadlines, obviously our expenses for programs like UDK, Autodesk,
Adobe packages and licenses are covered by the college. Then attempts at having
regular online meetings together with a homework check being done.
Another example of a formal brief could be
an equestrian company has taken on the thought of creating a saddle that not
only fits the horse perfectly, but requires aids to help people with disability
problems such as paralysed/ broken parts of the body, artificial limbs,
blindness or may require the horse to be more responsive to the rider keeping
in the mind the rider will want better grip and comfort from the object- which
is the complete opposite to a Treeless saddle which allows the rider to get
better response from the horse but loses grip and comfort.
Now with this in mind a lot of extensive
research would have to be taken into account starting from what’s already out
there for disabled riders, how the equipment is used and what effect does this
have on the horse (similar to our research when we’re looking to see what’s
already out there on the market and why a certain target audience may like that
product) Afterwards it would be case of bringing in top specialists and can
design this saddle to help with these problems, make the product and begin test
phases on both horses and riders separately then putting the two together and
seeing how their performance goes otherwise it’s back to testing.
·
Informal-
Informal briefs basically mean the opposite
of formal where the discussion between client and specialist, don’t necessarily
have to be written down in paper work as though it’s industry-standard
business. It could be simply where someone has discussed what they would like
to have done but haven’t got either all the details to supply the person taking
on the job or not entirely sure if they want this person to do the set task,
meaning the brief isn’t generalised or completed. It could be where you are
being asked to complete a favour for someone or as an example doing an art
trade.
On DeviantArt I usually get asked by other
members and friends to do an art trade with them or requests. This means
nothing has been set in stone and it’s up to me with the view of drawing
something for a member of the website (so the client) for free.
Similar to the example given above if you were to attend a
convention such as MCM Expo’s, Alcon or maybe even J-Con they usually have a
section at the venue where various well known artists are taking on commissions
on the spot from spectators who’ve come to the convention for various different
reasons. Now what will happen is once a client has seen what a certain artist
can do and like’s their style in which they create things, they’ll ask if that
person is free to draw what they want and if so the client would then have a
normal every day-to-day discussion with the artist on what they want to be
drawn, how they would like it done and then ask questions of how long will it
take to make this piece and how much.
·
Tendered-
This kind of brief follows suit of a Formal
because once the project has been given, everything within that brief is
written to a formal standard. With this in mind it could mean specialists may
have to bid for that contract in order to gain hold of the project for clients,
which means again tendered briefs appear more in industry and governmental
practices because you’re implying this project on a group of people, not a
specific person which then leads onto contractual briefs.
An example of this would be when Studio
Ghibli made Spirited Away they offered up a spot to work in partnership with
another company that would allow them to become more recognised throughout the
globe and their stories translated into different languages. As this was an
amazing opportunity many companies came forward with offers for the studio that
asked too much of them or seemed non-practical until Disney stepped in. Now
Disney offered that the movies Ghibli produced would be part of the Disney
movie collection and released under both Disney and Studio Ghibli’s name
meaning that people from across the world would feel better buying these movies
because Disney was a very well-renowned company and still is today, yet nothing
was taken away from Ghibli because Disney states that it was this company that
made these movies. From this Studio Ghibli would gain popularity from across
the globe and their movies translated into other languages and distributed
internationally- with this the company accepted their offer.
Similar to this may be the game: Pandora’s
Tower which was created by a Japanese team called Ganbarion. Now because this
team made an epic game it wasn’t very well known so in order to gain more
profit they offered well known distributers the chance to acquire this game and
publish it under their name as well as Ganbarion’s so that both parties will
make and share a profit. After many offers Nintendo pulled through and were
allowed to alter the game to fit the Wii and published for that console as an
exclusive.
·
Commissionable-
Now commissionable does still collaborate
with the formal part of a brief where a client has given you a necessary
description of what they want with along with times, budgets and an outline of
the plan but they tend to leave you more to your own devices. So a customer
requires you as an individual or a specific studio for example, to start and
finish this project for them without having to go through a set industry
practice meaning you’re left to your own devices because you’re good at the
specific thing. Similar to what I discussed earlier in informal briefs.
An example of this would be if you work as a
freelancer then usually you get commissioned by various people whether they’re
agencies, individuals or even working studios to create a particular thing for
them in order for a project to work meaning it’s up to you to take what the
client wants and create what the brief states along with the clients
requirements in mind. So when I was commissioned to draw somebody’s horses it
meant I had to take pictures of the horses as references, find out their breed
for further referencing as well as the horses characteristics and begin
drawing. With one of the horses I didn’t have a time limit, yet with the other
I had to have it finished and printed out before the client’s daughter’s
birthday. So I made the one with a deadline first and then finished the other
horse after so that if anything was wrong with the first, I could take my time
to fix that picture before the deadline. My budget was £15 for each picture to
cover cost of materials and personal time. Later on I was commissioned to draw
someone’s dogs with a winter- theme in mind.
·
Contractual-
Basically this means you are bound to an
agreement between yourself and the other party in order for you to start
working towards the brief. In the contract the client will discuss what he/she
wants as stated before yet if you were to break the set rules given to you it
could end up in a lawsuit case where you will lose rights to continue working
on the project and with the client, possibly losing a lot of money because the
other half has backed out the deal. Usually these types of briefs end in a
non-disclosure agreement.
A good way to look at this would be when
I’ve hopefully completed my time at university and have a job, where I’m
earning over 21,000 a year then by law I have to pay back what borrowed with 9%
interest on top. If I do not comply with these rules then I won’t get the loan
in the first place, but I will be fined and possibly sent to prison for my
actions.
·
Collaborative-
This means the brief has been shared out
amongst a group and mainly used in interactive media industries like Confetti.
This means all the roles created by the brief can be given out to individuals
in that group that are more specialised in that certain area which evens out
the pressure of the project, yet it could also cause more problems later down
the line because everyone will have a different approach to the project given
meaning ideas may clash with others so negotiations have to be made.
A fine example of this would again be our
FMP group. My role is artist and animator but if other sections of the game
desperately need doing then it’s my job to lend a hand. Currently I’m asking
the group to help me start script work so I can begin animating cut scenes,
which I believe if we all do it together as a group then we won’t clash later
on with how our characters are being portrayed through the story, which then
doesn’t waste my time animating unnecessary
scenes. The huge problem about how group however is the lack of
communication between individuals and the fact only a couple of us are only
pulling our weight, as well as not having instructions from either team leader
or vice-captain. To try and resolve this issue I keep having meetings with the
team leader about what should be done, request online meetings and personally
keeping a homework check on board so we know who is supposed to be doing what.
Now that we know what a brief looks like,
the different types and understanding them, we have to move on and decide
whether the project will be able to work or whether we feel the need to
negotiate with the client to change certain aspects that might help smoothen
the process in case things seem unrealistic.
o
Consultations-
Consultations clarify with the client about whether or not you feel the
brief was clear in what you are being asked to do. It’s also the time where if
you or your team mates have any issues within the brief like maybe the budget
isn’t enough, there’s not enough time to finish the project by or some wild
demands such as if the project isn’t completed the client now owns your
company/name, then you have the right to come clean about these troubles to the
client and try working something out between both parties.
For example when I’ve been to a dog walking job, I have a consultation
with the owner first so I understand what the dog is like in its own territory
and what the client wants. Within this meeting both parties arrange suitable
times for me to walk the dog with a reasonable price which is usually
negotiated to cover both time and expenses. I suppose another way would be when
I go and work for people with horses, I get shown what they want me to do such
as stable duties, how many they want doing, if there’s an special requirements
such as diets, behaviour, allergies or if certain horses need to stay in their
stable because of worming days or illness such as strangles and whether jobs
need to be done within certain time limits especially if it’s a riding school
and not a livery yard. With this in mind sometimes I have to negotiate the
times because of bus routes and request I will only work if I either get paid
or have a free riding lesson/hack on a safe horse.
o
Discretion-
If you feel the need that minor details need to be altered or as
explained before, more time/ money needs to be given then these are your
discretions about the brief in general. So in order to sort this out you have
to work closely with your clients and meet halfway so that you can both come to
agreeable terms, if the client refuses to hear your problems out then it could
be you’re making a ridiculous request or the brief is a lost cause that can’t
be done until the owner sees sense.
Again going back to working with horses, most places I worked at I would
do stable duties and care for the horses needs from 9am-6pm most weekends
without getting a ride. When I voiced my concerns to the owner they usually
promised I would get a ride next time, yet next time never came so I quit
because it was a lost cause. As this carried on for a couple of years I ended
up getting my own horse as an early birthday present.
Second
example could be in our FMP team my main job is to be the artist and animator,
now after creating the first cutscene that requires people to voice act three
characters I explained to my team members they’re welcome to voice the
characters themselves however whatever animations I’ve created they’ll be going
up on Youtube as that’s my video playground in a nutshell. After agreeing to
these terms and later on uploading the first cutscene onto Youtube, one of the
members insisted I take off the video because he does not wish his voice to be
up on the web and that the other team member may not want this either. So to
quickly resolve the matter I set the video’s settings to private. Now after a
few I went back to my team members and again explained to them that animation I
create will be on the web and if they do not want their voices up on Youtube to
tell me immediately so I can find someone else. Now one the team members who
didn’t dispute the fact I had put this
video up in the first place, agreed to my terms and said he will continue to
voice this character now the other who did dispute hasn’t come back with a yes
or no.
o
Constraints-
Constraints are pretty straightforward where problems may arise and hold
back your team or the project itself from getting on with what needs to be
done. Localisation could be maybe your team can’t all gather at certain places
at certain times because of other priorities and hobbies. Ethical restraints
would be where we have to take other people’s feelings and beliefs into
consideration, meaning this is probably one of the most difficult subjects to
approach in the creative media sector. How we can affect other people could be
by how we portray characters in situations. An example would be in Resident
Evil 4, the trailer clearly shows Chris Redfield being the only white guy and
going into Africa shooting most of the population because they’ve turned into
zombies, but they’re all coloured. This itself, created a huge controversy
between the general public and the creators, who didn’t intentionally mean to
offend anyone and basically didn’t do enough research first-hand to see this
was in fact a big issue.
I suppose how you could counter something
like this, would be to look at what Nintendo done with Legend of Zelda:
Twilight Princess. The only coloured woman there didn’t star in a huge
protagonist role and wore slightly revealing clothes, yet the creators made
sure she helped Link and his friends through the story and that if it wasn’t
for her, Link and Midna wouldn’t have been able to defeat Zant or Ganondorf.
Finally when
designing the game it’s important to understand that the initial thoughts on
when creating the brief for the designers is that it’s original and not a copy
of someone else’s work, this stands for everything from brief to the producing
of the game. Copyright protects people’s work from others who dares to commit
plagiarism, meaning that there are people who try to steal the original work of
someone else because they haven’t given credit to the original owner, or
proclaim the work is theirs when it isn’t.
A recent example of this is the plot behind
Assassin’s Creed III which is supposed to be released in North America on 30th
October 2012 under the PS3 and Xbox 360, later being released on 18th of
November as a Wii-U platform and the same for Europe but on the 30th of
November. John L.Beiswenger, who’s a research engineer and sci-fi author,
claims his book ‘Link’ shares various similarities as the game- insisting
Ubisoft are ‘allegedly ripping off his novel’ .
The book ‘Link’ explores an idea of memories
recorded by an ancestor that eventually get brought to life only by using a
special device known as: ‘Bio-synchronizer’. Another reason for the claim, made
by plaintiff, is the book talks about assassins and assassinations which at one
point in the novel, someone is trying to fit the pieces of the past together.
Finally spiritual and biblical tones with references of Jesus, God, the Garden
of Eden, forbidden fruit and a reliance on historical moments portrayed through
ancestor’s memories all lead identical occurrences in Assassin’s Creed series.
So now that we know what can be discussed with the client
about negotiating certain aspects for the project, it’s then that we can begin
to lay down amendments to the original brief. Now these can be made up from the
list above or pieces you feel that aren’t right but whatever changes you need
to make has to be shown to the customer first so that they can accept the new
terms and conditions or refuse them if they feel you’re being unreasonable like
wanting more money than you need, or maybe initial concepts of the foundations
aren’t what they have I mind. The best solution to tackle these problems would
be to tackle how much each piece is going to cost and write a good plan on how
you’re going to manage your/teams time through the entire project. Request
meetings with the client so that they may also see your progress or if you have
initial stages planned out explain your thoughts as to why you’ve done them and
how they’re linked to the brief. This way it keeps your client involved with
what you’re doing so that less problems may occur later down the line.
So with that underway do we actually believe you can still
learn new things from working on projects? Me personally I believe we can, when
working on a project we are honing our skills in that subject and experimenting
new things that can effectively make a project better but more defined from
what others are doing. For instance when
I started doing digital art I didn’t want to copy what other people were doing
to make their images look better, so during my spare time I was open for
requests meaning people could me to draw something for them and I would, as
well as entering drawing competitions on Youtube. In the beginning my art was
really poor but the more I worked on projects from simple things like requests
to digital pieces that were to be included in my GCSE Art portfolio, the more
my techniques were improved and defined to point where now people have said my
work looks realistic in some places.
By comparing the two I believe
both my art and digital skills have greatly improved because for the years I’ve
taught myself to draw, I come to develop new ways at obtaining different techniques that improve
my art style in general. With this in mind I do believe that whatever project
we take on, our skills will improve and along the way we learn new things that
may surpass our previous work or simply find an easier route to completing the
same task.
When I began Confetti I didn’t really think about the
processes of how a game is made and distributed as well as how vast the gaming
community is and that in there group there’s subject terminology that many
people who play games but not obsessively understand. To begin with I quite
understand the terms of DLC, real-time, FMP or even open world actually meant.
As far as my understanding was a game was a game that was defined by an age
rating and classified under similar genres that books go under. Now that my
time at Confetti is nearly over I’ve learnt the process in which a game has
been made and has ultimately opened various other career paths I can now take.
An example would be I never knew how to model a 3D program and to be honest I
was quite scared to have a go because myself and shapes don’t really get on,
since then I can effectively model, texture, animate and render something in 3D
which means that when I go to university for my animation course I feel
confident in not only 2D hand-drawn animation but 3D animation as well. Another
would be if animation didn’t work out for me I could try the concept and final
art paths for games, as I know understand the different gaming genres and what
selling points are aimed at different target audiences which means when I come
to create concepts for clients who’ve given me a set brief I won’t be going off
topic. Then there’s the gaming community itself who all share similar interests
such as anime, cosplay and crazy fan obsessions meaning I get to meet more
people, make new friends and acquire certain contacts which again could help me
in my career.
Finally my last example would be the equestrian world. Now
when you start becoming a fan of this adrenaline-rushing, cold, dangerous sport
you don’t actually realise how much there is to learn not only about your
riding, but the horse disciplines and the people around you. To begin with the
horse world is a very cold and cruel place that seems to be a playground for
the rich, when I started getting addicted to this sport I began helping a
nearby woman with her three competition horses which began my education on how
to handle and look after your horse, at the same time I went back into riding
lessons learning the basics and building my confidence in how to control the
horse using aids like your hands, legs and speech which is how most people
start out. When I finally got my first horse which was an ex-race horse, the
whole perspective on what I had learnt changed and life became a complete
different ball game. With looking after Paddy my Mum and I learnt how life on a
livery yard can be a real pain in the backside with many other people being
stuck-up because you didn’t have the right clothes or even the right horse for
that matter. We also learnt that Thoroughbreds are very costly horses after
many call-outs to the farrier and the vets, we discovered how to try and
retrain a horse that had been abused in his previous homes both on the ground
and in the saddle despite all bites I ended up getting and fact I had a real
bad fall where it shook my confidence.
However I think the best thing I ever got out of having
Paddy was the fact he taught me how it felt to feel free, whether that was in
the school or out in the fields. He took me away from whatever troubles I had
at school and put me in an entire situation completely- it was as though I had
a best friend where whatever I said he understood and that I understood him.
Sadly after the fall and the bullying I still got from school I lost my nerve
around Paddy and things began to turn sour where I couldn’t ride him because I
began to fear him, his nasty attitude returned and the livery yards just kept
getting worse. In the end I had to let him go and after trying a couple of
other horses after that and having bad experiences I honestly thought I
wouldn’t be back in the saddle again. After a long period I began lessons again
and went back to working for people where I found I as ok on the ground just
not the saddle, then I went to a certain riding school to find my old horse was
there and the person who we entrusted him with was keeping him in poor
condition. As we couldn’t get him back I decided to get over this fear of
riding and eventually got my second horse Cleo last year. Now Cleo was
completely different to Paddy, she was lazy and stubborn but looked after you
in the saddle and had a very fast trot because she had driven in the past. With
having spent time with her my confidence grew each day where I began to get
ready to start jumping again, then because of college commitments I had to give
her up- shortly after I sold her I found out by a friend Paddy had died and his
owner had broken his leg by racing him on the flat.
So what have I learnt from all this?
In the horse world you have two options, you either keep
your head afloat or you sink. You don’t listen to what other people say about
you or your horse and you don’t change for no one unless someone of importance
tells you and even then be sceptical. With horses themselves I know how to look
after them throughout the entire year, what to do when they’re ill, groundwork,
tack-up and clean the tack and bits of Parelli. In the saddle I can ride
English, Western and a tiny bit of Spanish, I know how to lunge, build muscles
and flexibility, begin to start jumping a horse and slow down a fast trot or
make help stop tranter. Above all I’ve learnt that horses are a big part of my
life, when I feel scared or unhappy about something and my family can’t help
fix it, I go and visit nearby horses and I feel at peace. I know that they
don’t care who or what you are so long as you look after them and treat them
with respect both on the ground and in saddle. Finally I know they can become
your best friend and part of the family, give you wings and the taste of
freedom when both parties know how to trust one another.
With all this in mind I do want to attend another college
that deals with horse care and riding, get a diploma there and take a degree in
equine rehabilitation so that I may be able to save other horses from the meat
factory, or from people like I had entrusted Paddy with. One day when I retire
I aspire to set up a rescue centre for horses of all ages and breeds,
especially ex-racers, trotters and competition horses.
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